[Repost] Sleep Probelms and Complementary Approaches

From the US National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) – part of NIH

What’s the Bottom Line?

What do we know about the usefulness of complementary approaches for sleep disorders?

• Relaxation techniques can be helpful for insomnia.
• Melatonin supplements may be helpful for sleep problems caused by shift work or jet lag. Melatonin may also be helpful for people with insomnia, but its effect is small.
• The evidence for other complementary approaches is either inconsistent or too limited to draw conclusions about whether they are helpful for sleep disorders.

What do we know about the safety of complementary approaches for sleep disorders?

• Relaxation techniques are generally considered safe.
• Melatonin appears to be relatively safe for short-term use, but its long-term safety has not been established.
• There are serious safety concerns about kava products (which have been linked to severe liver damage) and L-tryptophan supplements (which may be associated with a potentially serious disorder called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome).
• If you use a complementary approach for a sleep problem, tell your health care providers. They can do a better job caring for you if they know what you’re using.

What Are Sleep Disorders and How Important Are They?

There are more than 80 different sleep disorders. This fact sheet focuses on insomnia—difficulty falling asleep or difficulty staying asleep. Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders.

More information

Chronic, long-term sleep disorders affect millions of Americans each year. These disorders and the sleep deprivation they cause can interfere with work, driving, social activities, and overall quality of life, and can have serious health implications. Sleep disorders account for an estimated $16 billion in medical costs each year, plus indirect costs due to missed days of work, decreased productivity, and other factors.

To learn more about sleep disorders, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Web site.

Is It a Sleep Disorder or Not Enough Sleep?

Some people who feel tired during the day have a true sleep disorder, but for others, the real problem is not allowing enough time for sleep. Adults need at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night to be well rested, but the average adult sleeps for less than 7 hours a night.

More information

Sleep is a basic human need, like eating, drinking, and breathing, and is vital to good health and well-being. Shortchanging yourself on sleep slows your thinking and reaction time, makes you irritable, and increases your risk of injury. It may even decrease your resistance to infections, increase your risk of obesity, and increase your risk of heart disease. To learn more about healthy sleep and what happens when you don’t get enough sleep, visit NHLBI’s Your Guide to Healthy Sleep and What Are Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency?.

What the Science Says About Complementary Health Approaches and Insomnia

Research has produced promising results for some complementary health approaches for insomnia, such as relaxation techniques. However, evidence of effectiveness is still limited for most products and practices, and safety concerns have been raised about a few.

Mind and Body Practices

• There is evidence that relaxation techniques can be effective in treating chronic insomnia.

  More information

  • Progressive relaxation may help people with insomnia and nighttime anxiety.
  • Music-assisted relaxation may be moderately beneficial in improving sleep quality in people with sleep problems, but the number of studies has been small.
  • Various forms of relaxation are sometimes combined with components of cognitive-behavioral therapy (such as sleep restriction and stimulus control), with good results.
  • Using relaxation techniques before bedtime can be part of a strategy to improve sleep habits that also includes other steps, such as maintaining a consistent sleep schedule; avoiding caffeine, alcohol, heavy meals, and strenuous exercise too close to bedtime; and sleeping in a quiet, cool, dark room.
  • Relaxation techniques are generally safe. However, rare side effects have been reported in people with serious physical or mental health conditions. If you have a serious underlying health problem, it would be a good idea to consult your health care provider before using relaxation techniques.
• In a preliminary study, mindfulness-based stress reduction, a type of meditation, was as effective as a prescription drug in a small group of people with insomnia.

  More information

  • Several other studies have also reported that mindfulness-based stress reduction improved sleep, but the people who participated in these studies had other health problems, such as cancer.
• Preliminary studies in postmenopausal women and women with osteoarthritis suggest that yoga may be helpful for insomnia.
• Some practitioners who treat insomnia have reported that hypnotherapy enhanced the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques in their patients, but very little rigorous research has been conducted on the use of hypnotherapy for insomnia.
• A small 2012 study on massage therapy showed promising results for insomnia in postmenopausal women. However, conclusions cannot be reached on the basis of a single study.
• Most of the studies that have evaluated acupuncture for insomnia have been of poor scientific quality. The current evidence is not rigorous enough to show whether acupuncture is helpful for insomnia.

For more information on mind and body practices.

Dietary Supplements

Melatonin and Related Supplements

• Melatonin may help with jet lag and sleep problems related to shift work.
• A 2013 evaluation of the results of 19 studies concluded that melatonin may help people with insomnia fall asleep faster, sleep longer, and sleep better, but the effect of melatonin is small compared to that of other treatments for insomnia.

  More information

  • Studies of melatonin in children with sleep problems suggest that it may be helpful, both in generally healthy children and in those with conditions such as autism or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, both the number of studies and the number of children who participated in the studies are small, and all of the studies tested melatonin only for short periods of time.
  • Melatonin supplements appear to be relatively safe for short-term use, although the use of melatonin was linked to bad moods in elderly people (most of whom had dementia) in one study.
  • The long-term safety of melatonin supplements has not been established.
• Dietary supplements containing substances that can be changed into melatonin in the body—L-tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)—have been researched as sleep aids.

  More information

  • Studies of L-tryptophan supplements as an insomnia treatment have had inconsistent results, and the effects of 5-HTP supplements on insomnia have not been established.
  • The use of L-tryptophan supplements may be linked to eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS), a complex, potentially fatal disorder with multiple symptoms including severe muscle pain. It is uncertain whether the risk of EMS associated with L-tryptophan supplements is due to impurities in L-tryptophan preparations or to L-tryptophan itself.

Herbs

• Although chamomile has traditionally been used for insomnia, often in the form of a tea, there is no conclusive evidence from clinical trials showing whether it is helpful. Some people, especially those who are allergic to ragweed or related plants, may have allergic reactions to chamomile.
• Although kava is said to have sedative properties, very little research has been conducted on whether this herb is helpful for insomnia. More importantly, kava supplements have been linked to a risk of severe liver damage.
• Clinical trials of valerian (another herb said to have sedative properties) have had inconsistent results, and its value for insomnia has not been demonstrated. Although few people have reported negative side effects from valerian, it is uncertain whether this herb is safe for long-term use.
• Some “sleep formula” dietary supplements combine valerian with other herbs such as hops, lemon balm, passionflower, and kava or other ingredients such as melatonin and 5-HTP. There is little evidence on these preparations from studies in people.

For more information on dietary supplements.

Other Complementary Health Approaches

• Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of essential oils from plants. It is uncertain whether aromatherapy is helpful for treating insomnia because little rigorous research has been done on this topic.
• A 2010 systematic review concluded that current evidence does not demonstrate significant effects of homeopathic medicines for insomnia.

NCCIH Research on Sleep Disorders

NCCIH funds research on complementary health approaches for sleep disorders.

More information

Recent projects include studies on:

• How mindfulness meditation training may affect the amount and quality of sleep
• The effect of blue-white light on sleep disorders in patients with Alzheimer’s disease
• Whether acupuncture can help insomnia
• How two forms of mindfulness-based therapy compare with behavior therapy for treating insomnia.

Could You Have Sleep Apnea?

Do you snore loudly? Does your bed partner say that you make gasping or snorting sounds during the night? Do you fight off sleepiness during the day?

If you have any of these symptoms, talk to your health care provider. You might have sleep apnea—a condition in which sleep is disrupted because of pauses in breathing. For more information, visit the NHLBI Web site.

If You’re Considering Complementary Health Approaches for Sleep Problems

• Talk to your health care providers. Tell them about the complementary health approach you are considering and ask any questions you may have. Because trouble sleeping can be an indication of a more serious condition, and because some prescription and over-the-counter drugs can contribute to sleep problems, it is important to discuss your sleep-related symptoms with your health care providers before trying any complementary health product or practice.
• Be cautious about using any sleep product—prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, dietary supplements, or homeopathic remedies. Find out about potential side effects and any risks from long-term use or combining products.
• Keep in mind that “natural” does not always mean safe. For example, kava products can cause serious harm to the liver. Also, a manufacturer’s use of the term “standardized” (or “verified” or “certified”) does not necessarily guarantee product quality or consistency. Natural products can cause health problems if not used correctly. The health care providers you see about your sleep problems can advise you.
• If you are pregnant, nursing a child, or considering giving a child a dietary supplement or other natural health product, it is especially important to consult your (or your child’s) health care provider.
• If you are considering a practitioner-provided complementary health practice, check with your insurer to see if the services will be covered, and ask a trusted source (such as your health care provider or a nearby hospital or medical school) to recommend a practitioner.
• Tell all your health care providers about any complementary health approaches you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care.

For More Information

NCCIH Clearinghouse

The NCCIH Clearinghouse provides information on NCCIH and complementary and integrative health approaches, including publications and searches of Federal databases of scientific and medical literature. The Clearinghouse does not provide medical advice, treatment recommendations, or referrals to practitioners.

Toll-free in the U.S.:

1-888-644-6226

TTY (for deaf and hard-of-hearing callers):

1-866-464-3615

Web site:

nccih.nih.gov

E-mail:

info@nccih.nih.gov (link sends e-mail)

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

The NHLBI Health Information Center provides information to health professionals, patients, and the public about heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders and accepts orders for publications.

National Center on Sleep Disorders Research

Web site:

nhlbi.nih.gov

E-mail:

nhlbiinfo@nhlbi.nih.gov (link sends e-mail)

MedlinePlus

To provide resources that help answer health questions, MedlinePlus (a service of the National Library of Medicine) brings together authoritative information from the National Institutes of Health as well as other Government agencies and health-related organizations.

Information on sleep disorders

Web site:

www.medlineplus.gov

PubMed®

A service of the National Library of Medicine, PubMed® contains publication information and (in most cases) brief summaries of articles from scientific and medical journals. For guidance from NCCIH on using PubMed, see How To Find Information About Complementary Health Approaches on PubMed.

Web site:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

Key References

• Allen JA, Peterson A, Sufit R, et al. Post-epidemic eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with L-tryptophan. Arthritis and Rheumatism. 2011;63(11):3633–3639.
• Cheuk DKL, Yeung WF, Chung KF, et al. Acupuncture for insomnia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2012;(9):CD005472. Accessed at http://www.thecochranelibrary.com on January 20, 2014.
• Cooper KL, Relton C. Homeopathy for insomnia: a systematic review of research evidence. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2010;14(5):329–337.
• de Niet G, Tiemens B, Lendemeijer B, et al. Music-assisted relaxation to improve sleep quality: meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2009;65(7):1356–1364.
• Ernst E, Lee MS, Choi T-Y. Acupuncture for insomnia? An overview of systematic reviews. European Journal of General Practice. 2011;17(2):116–123.
• Ferracioli-Oda E, Qawasmi A, Bloch MH. Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PLoS One. 2013;8(5):e63773.
• Gooneratne NS. Complementary and alternative medicine for sleep disturbances in older adults. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine. 2008;24(1):121–138.
• Gross CR, Kreitzer MJ, Reilly-Spong M, et al. Mindfulness-based stress reduction versus pharmacotherapy for chronic primary insomnia: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Explore. 2011;7(2):76–87.
• Kierlin L. Sleeping without a pill: nonpharmacologic treatments for insomnia. Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 2008;14(6):403–407.
• National Cancer Institute. Aromatherapy and Essential Oils. National Cancer Institute Web site. Accessed at www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/aromatherapy/healthprofessional/AllPages on January 20, 2014.
• Ng B-Y, Lee T-S. Hypnotherapy for sleep disorders. Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore. 2008;37(8):683–688.
• Oliveira DS, Hachul H, Goto V, et al. Effect of therapeutic massage on insomnia and climacteric symptoms in postmenopausal women. Climacteric. 2012;15(1):21–29.
• Pearson NJ, Johnson LL, Nahin RL. Insomnia, trouble sleeping, and complementary and alternative medicine: analysis of the 2002 National Health Interview Survey Data. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2006;166(16):1775–1782.
• Riemersma-van der Lek RF, Swaab DF, Twisk J, et al. Effect of bright light and melatonin on cognitive and noncognitive function in elderly residents of group care facilities: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2008;299(22):2642–2655.
• Sarris J, Byrne GJ. A systematic review of insomnia and complementary medicine. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2011;15(2):99–106.
• Siebern AT, Manber R. Insomnia and its effective non-pharmacologic treatment. Medical Clinics of North America. 2010;94(3):581–591.
• Taibi DM, Landis CA, Petry H, et al. A systematic review of valerian as a sleep aid: safe but not effective. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2007;11(3):209–230.
• Taibi DM, Vitiello MV. A pilot study of gentle yoga for sleep disturbance in women with osteoarthritis. Sleep Medicine. 2011;12(5):512–517.

All Other References

• Afonso RF, Hachul H, Kozasa EH, et al. Yoga decreases insomnia in postmenopausal women: a randomized clinical trial. Menopause. 2012;19(2):186–193.
• Andersen SR, Würtzen H, Steding-Jessen M, et al. Effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on sleep quality: results of a randomized trial among Danish breast cancer patients. Acta Oncologica. 2013;52(2):336–344.
• Balick MJ, Herrera K, Musser SM. Kava. In: Coates PM, Betz JM, Blackman MR, et al., eds. Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Informa Healthcare; 2010:459–468.
• Belongia EA, Hedberg CW, Gleich GJ, et al. An investigation of the cause of the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with tryptophan use. New England Journal of Medicine. 1990;323(6):357–365.
• Britton WB, Haynes PL, Fridel KW, et al. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves polysomnographic and subjective sleep profiles in antidepressant users with sleep complaints. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 2012;81(5):296–304.
• Brzezinski A, Vangel MG, Wurtman RJ, et al. Effects of exogenous melatonin on sleep: a meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2005;9(1):41–50.
• Buscemi N, Vandermeer B, Hooton N, et al. The efficacy and safety of exogenous melatonin for primary sleep disorders. A meta-analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2005;20(12):1151–1158.
• Cappuccio FP, Taggart FM, Kandala N-B, et al. Meta-analysis of short sleep duration and obesity in children and adults. Sleep. 2008;31(5):619–626.
• Carlson LE, Garland SN. Impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on sleep, mood, stress and fatigue symptoms in cancer outpatients. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2005;12(4):278–285.
• Carter PJ, Taylor BJ, Williams SM, et al. Longitudinal analysis of sleep in relation to BMI and body fat in children: the FLAME study. BMJ. 2011;342:d2712.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Epidemiologic notes and reports: eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome and L-tryptophan-containing products—New Mexico, Minnesota, Oregon, and New York, 1989. MMWR. 1989;38(46):785–788.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hepatic toxicity possibly associated with kava-containing products—United States, Germany, and Switzerland, 1999–2002. MMWR. 2002;51(47):1065–1067.
• Cummings C, Canadian Paediatric Society, Community Paediatrics Committee. Melatonin for the management of sleep disorders in children and adolescents. Paediatrics and Child Health. 2012;17(6):331–336.
• Fernández-San-Martín MI, Masa-Font R, Palacios-Soler L, et al. Effectiveness of valerian on insomnia: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Sleep Medicine. 2010;11(6):505–511.
• Gross CR, Kreitzer MJ, Thomas W, et al. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for solid organ transplant recipients: a randomized controlled trial. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 2010;16(5):30–38.
• Gyllenhaal C, Merritt SL, Peterson SD, et al. Efficacy and safety of herbal stimulants and sedatives in sleep disorders. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2000;4(3):229–251.
• Herxheimer A, Petrie KJ. Melatonin for the prevention and treatment of jet lag. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2002;(2):CD001520 [edited 2009]. Accessed at http://www.thecochranelibrary.com on January 20, 2014.
• Jacobs GD. Clinical applications of the relaxation response and mind-body interventions. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2001;7 (suppl 1):S93–101.
• Kleinman NL, Brook RA, Doan JF, et al. Health benefit costs and absenteeism due to insomnia from the employer’s perspective: a retrospective, case-control, database study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2009;70(8):1098–1104.
• Meoli AL, Rosen C, Kristo D, et al. Oral nonprescription treatment for insomnia: an evaluation of products with limited evidence. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2005;1(2):173–187.
• Morgenthaler TI, Lee-Chiong T, Alessi C, et al. Practice parameters for the clinical evaluation and treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders. An American Academy of Sleep Medicine report. Sleep. 2007;30(11):1445–1459.
• Morin CM, Bootzin RR, Buysse DJ, et al. Psychological and behavioral treatment of insomnia: update of the recent evidence (1998–2004). Sleep. 2006;29(11):1398–1414.
• Morin AK, Jarvis CI, Lynch AM. Therapeutic options for sleep-maintenance and sleep-onset insomnia. Pharmacotherapy. 2007;27(1):89–110.
• Morone NE, Lynch CS, Greco CM, et al. “I felt like a new person.” The effects of mindfulness meditation on older adults with chronic pain: qualitative narrative analysis of diary entries. Journal of Pain. 2008;9(9):841–848.
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site. Accessed at www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm on January 20, 2014.
• National Institutes of Health. NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on Manifestations and Management of Chronic Insomnia in Adults. NIH Consensus Science Statements. 2005;22(2):1–30.
• Naudé DF, Couchman IM, Maharaj A. Chronic primary insomnia: efficacy of homeopathic simillimum. Homeopathy. 2010;99(1):63–68.
• Ngan A, Conduit R. A double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of the effects of Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) herbal tea on subjective sleep quality. Phytotherapy Research. 2011;25(8):1153–1159.
• Office of Dietary Supplements. Valerian. Office of Dietary Supplements Web site. Accessed at ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Valerian-HealthProfessional/ on January 20, 2014.
• Ong JC, Shapiro SL, Manber R. Mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: a naturalistic 12-month follow-up. Explore. 2009;5(1):30–36.
• Patel SR, Blackwell T, Redline S, et al. The association between sleep duration and obesity in older adults. International Journal of Obesity. 2008;32(12):1825–1834.
• Smith MJ, Garrett RH. A heretofore undisclosed crux of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome: compromised histamine degradation. Inflammation Research. 2005;54(11):435–450.
• Srivastava JK, Shankar E, Gupta S. Chamomile: a herbal medicine of the past with bright future. Molecular Medicine Reports. 2010;3(6):895–901.
• Taavoni S, Ekbatani N, Kashaniyan M, et al. Effect of valerian on sleep quality in postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Menopause. 2011;18(9):951–955.
• Teschke R, Sarris J, Schweitzer I. Kava hepatotoxicity in traditional and modern use: the presumed Pacific kava paradox hypothesis revisited. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2012;73(2):170–174.
• Vickers A, Zollman C, Payne DK. Hypnosis and relaxation therapies. Western Journal of Medicine. 2001;175(4):269–272.
• Zick SM, Wright BD, Sen A, et al. Preliminary examination of the efficacy and safety of a standardized chamomile extract for chronic primary insomnia: a randomized placebo-controlled pilot study. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2011;11:78.

Top

Acknowledgments

NCCIH thanks Ronald Glick, M.D., University of Pittsburgh; Nalaka Gooneratne, M.D., University of Pennsylvania; Michael Twery, Ph.D., National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and D. Lee Alekel, Ph.D., and John (Jack) Killen, Jr., M.D., NCCIH, for their contributions to the 2014 update of this publication.

This publication is not copyrighted and is in the public domain. Duplication is encouraged.

NCCIH has provided this material for your information. It is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your primary health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with your health care provider. The mention of any product, service, or therapy is not an endorsement by NCCIH.

[News release] New work schedule could cure your ‘social jetlag’

From the 12 March 2015 news release

Many of us are walking around all the time in a fog caused by “social jetlag.” That’s what happens when we lose sleep because our daily schedules don’t match our bodies’ natural rhythms. The condition can be a particular problem for shift workers, who work into the night or on a shifting schedule. Now, researchers report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on March 12 that sleep and workers’ general wellbeing could be improved if work schedules took workers’ biological clocks into account.

“A ‘simple’ re-organization of shifts according to chronotype allowed workers to sleep more on workday nights,” says Till Roenneberg of Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Germany. “As a consequence, they were also able to sleep less on their free days due to a decreased need for compensating an accumulating sleep loss. This is a double-win situation.”

Such a change might have other long-term health implications, too, although that remains to be seen. An earlier report by Roenneberg’s team, also in Current Biology, showed a link between social jetlag and obesity, along with other unhealthy habits, including smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol and caffeine (see http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/cp-sji050412.php).

 

Related articles

• A ‘Social Jetlag’ Cure?: Work Schedules Based On Chronotypes May Improve Overall Well-Being
• New work schedule could cure your ‘social jetlag’
• Study: Adjusted Work Hours Could Cure ‘Social Jet Lag’
• Are you an early bird or a night owl?
• 7 Little-Known Side Effects of Daylight Saving Time

[Press release] Expert Panel Recommends New Sleep Times

 

http://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2015/02/09/and-so-to-bed-new-guidelines-from-the-national-sleep-foundation/

 

From the 2 February 2015 National Sleep Foundation press release

…

This is the first time that any professional organization has developed age-specific recommended sleep durations based on a rigorous, systematic review of the world scientific literature relating sleep duration to health, performance and safety,”

…

National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Duration Recommendations:

Age	Recommended	May be appropriate	Not recommended
Newborns0-3 months	14 to 17 hours	11 to 13 hours18 to 19 hours	Less than 11 hoursMore than 19 hours
Infants4-11 months	12 to 15 hours	10 to 11 hours16 to 18 hours	Less than 10 hoursMore than 18 hours
Toddlers1-2 years	11 to 14 hours	9 to 10 hours15 to 16 hours	Less than 9 hoursMore than 16 hours
Preschoolers3-5 years	10 to 13 hours	8 to 9 hours14 hours	Less than 8 hoursMore than 14 hours
School-aged Children6-13 years	9 to 11 hours	7 to 8 hours12 hours	Less than 7 hoursMore than 12 hours
Teenagers14-17 years	8 to 10 hours	7 hours11 hours	Less than 7 hoursMore than 11 hours
Young Adults18-25 years	7 to 9 hours	6 hours10 to 11 hours	Less than 6 hoursMore than 11 hours
Adults26-64 years	7 to 9 hours	6 hours10 hours	Less than 6 hoursMore than 10 hours
Older Adults≥ 65 years	7 to 8 hours	5 to 6 hours9 hours	Less than 5 hoursMore than 9 hours

The recommendations are the result of multiple rounds of consensus voting after a comprehensive review of published scientific studies on sleep and health.

Related articles

• National Sleep Foundation Updates Recommendations For How Much Sleep You Really Need
• Expert panel recommends new sleep durations
• How Much Sleep Do You Really Need? It Depends On Your Age
• Exactly How Much Sleep Is ‘Enough’?
• New ‘Sleep Duration Recommendations’ for Almost All the Age Groups
• POLL: How much sleep do you get per night?
• Are You Getting Enough Sleep? Chances Are, You’re Not

[Reposting] Catching up on sleep science – Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation

Catching up on sleep science – Science360 News Service | National Science Foundation.

From the 21 January 2015 article

[Unfortunately was not able to copy the accompanying 7:37 minute video here]

Humans are the only species that seems to deliberately deprive themselves of sleep. But if you’ve ever uttered a phrase like, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” scientists say it’s time for a wake-up call. Researchers have long known that adequate sleep is critical for good health. Insufficient sleep impairs the immune system, and is associated with everything from obesity to cardiovascular disease, stroke to cancer, depression to schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. Now scientists are several steps closer to knowing how sleep keeps us healthy.

[Press release] Reducing work-family conflicts in the workplace helps people to sleep better | EurekAlert! Science News

Reducing work-family conflicts in the workplace helps people to sleep better | EurekAlert! Science News.

From the 26 January 2015 press release

New York, NY, January 26, 2015 — A multi-institution team of sleep researchers recently found that workers who participated in an intervention aimed at reducing conflict between work and familial responsibilities slept an hour more each week and reported greater sleep sufficiency than those who did not participate in the intervention. Their study is published inSleep Health, Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

“Increasing family-supportive supervision and employee control over work time benefited the sleep of hundreds of employees, and even greater effects may be possible if sleep is overtly addressed in workplace interventions,” explained lead author Ryan Olson, PhD, of Oregon Health & Science University. “The Work, Family, and Health Network Study intervention was designed to reduce work-family conflict. It did not directly address sleep, yet sleep benefits were observed.”

The invention focused on the U.S. employees of an information technology firm. Groups of randomly selected managers and employees participated in a three-month, social and organizational change process that included interactive sessions with facilitated discussions, role-playing, and games. Managers were also trained in family supportive supervision and self-monitored how they applied the training on the job. Data were collected through qualitative interviews 12 months after the intervention was introduced and by actigraphy, the measurement of individuals’ sleeping and waking patterns using a monitor attached to participants’ wrists. Actigraphy measures of sleep quality and quantity were taken at the beginning of the intervention, to establish baseline measures for participants, and 12 months after the intervention. Each of the 474 participants’ activity recordings were evaluated by two scorers, who identified periods of sleep relative to each participant’s waking activities.

“I applaud the methodological rigor of Olson and colleagues’ approach to assessing the Work, Family, and Health Network Study’s effect on the sleep duration and quality of a real world population,” commented Dr. Lauren Hale, Editor-in-Chief of Sleep Health. “This study demonstrates that interventions unrelated to sleep can improve sleep in the population. Furthermore, these findings serve as a reminder that there are opportunities to deploy innovative interventions to improve sleep.”

The authors had hypothesized that both sleep duration and insomnia would be improved in the study’s twelfth month; secondarily, they hypothesized that any improvement in sleep quality and duration would be mediated by employees’ enhanced control over their work time and reduced work-family conflict assessed at the sixth month after baseline. Researchers created a statistical mediation model that accounted for the multiple temporal aspects of actigraphic sleep data and participant characteristics.

“Here we showed that an intervention focused on changing the workplace culture could increase the measured amount of sleep employees obtain, as well as their perception that their sleep was more sufficient,” noted lead investigator Orfeu M. Buxton, PhD, Pennsylvania State University (with secondary appointments at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital). “Work can be a calling and inspirational, as well as a paycheck, but work should not be detrimental to health. It is possible to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of work by reducing work-family conflict, and improving sleep.”

Digicorp workplace (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

[Press release] Flexible work schedules improve health, sleep | EurekAlert! Science News

Flexible work schedules improve health, sleep | EurekAlert! Science News.

From the 22 January 2015 press release

 

Giving employees more control over their work schedules may help curb sleep deficiency, according to health researchers.

“In the absence of sufficient sleep, we are not as attentive or alert, we process information more slowly, miss or misinterpret social and emotional cues and decision making is impaired,” said Orfeu M. Buxton, associate professor of biobehavioral health, Penn State. “For example, we may misjudge risks by undervaluing negative consequences and overvaluing potential rewards.”

About 30 percent of U.S. adults reported not regularly getting a sufficient amount of sleep, a 2012 Centers for Disease Control survey found. Sleep deficiency has been linked to increased risk of automobile crashes, chronic disease and early mortality. Improving adequate sleep within the population is a goal of Healthy People 2020, a federal initiative that sets national objectives and monitors progress concerning the health of the nation.

Buxton and colleagues looked to see if a workplace intervention, designed to increase family-supportive supervision and give employees more control over their work time, improved sleep quantity and quality. They report their results in an article published online today (Jan. 21) in the journal Sleep Health.

The researchers followed 474 employees as part of a Work, Family and Health Network study conducted at an information technology company, with about half of the employees serving as the control while the other half experienced the study intervention. Both employees and their supervisors participated.

The intervention was designed to reduce conflicts between work and personal life, and focused on two main cultural shifts: allowing employees to decide on when and where they worked and training supervisors to support their employees’ personal lives. Those who were assigned to the intervention were encouraged to be completely flexible about when and where they would work — at the office, from home or elsewhere — while still working the same number of hours as the control group. All of the participants wore a sleep-monitoring watch, a device that tracks movement to monitor periods of sleep.

 

…

[News article] Don’t worry, be happy: Just go to bed earlier — ScienceDaily

Don’t worry, be happy: Just go to bed earlier — ScienceDaily.

Excerpt

Date: December 4, 2014

Source: Springer Science+Business Media

Summary: Researchers link late evenings to repetitive negative thoughts. When you go to bed, and how long you sleep at a time, might actually make it difficult for you to stop worrying. So say researchers, who found that people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed very late at night are often overwhelmed with more negative thoughts than those who keep more regular sleeping hours.

Related articles

• Don’t worry, be happy: Just go to bed earlier

[Press release] From age 8 to 80, expert reveals the price we pay for not sleeping

From the 28 October 2014 Ohio State University press release

 

““For children, sleep deprivation can lead to behavior problems, trouble focusing and learning in school and it can affect their immune systems,” said Dr. Aneesa Das, a sleep medicine specialist at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center. “Chronic tiredness makes it harder to cope and process what’s going on around you.”

When children enter the teen years, sleep becomes a bigger issue. Das says a teen’s circadian rhythm, or internal body clock, tells them to stay awake later and sleep later than children and adults do. She says only 15 percent of teenagers get the recommended sleep they need.

“Sleep is time the body uses to restore itself. Muscles and other tissues repair themselves, hormones that control growth, development and appetite are released. Energy is restored and memories are solidified, so we need to try to get regular sleep on a regular basis,” Das said.

For adults, sleep loss is even more serious. It accumulates over the years and has been shown to contribute to several chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and obesity.”

….

To improve the chances of getting a good night’s sleep, Das offers a few tips: don’t perform vigorous exercise within four hours of bedtime; have a wind down routine that includes dim light; avoid using tablets, phones and laptops before bed because they emit blue light that interferes with sleep; try a warm bath two hours before bedtime and beware of sleep aid medications because they can have side effects.

 

[Repost] The Healthy Woman: A Complete Guide for all Ages

 

The Healthy Woman: A Complete Guide for all Ages | Publications.USA.gov.

Can be downloaded for free!

A comprehensive reference with helpful charts and personal stories. The guide covers major diseases, aging mental health, reproductive health, nutrition and alternative medicine. It also provices advice on common screening tests and immunizations you may need. (Previous item number: 107W)

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Released: 2008
Pages: 500

[Reblog]Trouble Sleeping? Go Camping

From the 2 August 2013 article at Scientific American

Artificial light sources can negatively affect circadian rhythms, scientists say

By Joel N. Shurkin and Inside Science News Service

This story was originally published byInside Science News Service.

Throughout most of human history, humans went to bed shortly after the sun went down and woke up in the morning as it rose. There were candles and later oil lamps, but the light was not very bright so people still went to bed early.

Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder found that if you live by the sun’s schedule, you are more likely to go to bed at least an hour earlier, wake up an hour earlier, and be less groggy, because your internal clock and external reality are more in sync. The sun adjusts your clock to what may be its natural state, undoing the influence of light bulbs.

The work is published in the current issue of the journal Current Biology.

The disconnect between the outside environment and sleep is one reason why even native Alaskans have problems sleeping in the almost endless days of the Arctic summers, and get depressed during the long nights of winters.

The subjects in the Colorado study lived more normal lives.

Read the entire article here

Related articles

• Study: Can camping reboot your sleep cycle? (designntrend.com)
• Camping for a week resets body clock (bbc.co.uk)
• Waking Up Tired? Blame Electricity (news.sciencemag.org)
• A week’s worth of camping synchs internal clock to sunrise and sunset, CU-Boulder study finds. (zedie.wordpress.com)
• Camping Could Reset Your Internal Clock: The Answer to Sleep Woes (scienceworldreport.com)
• A week of camping can make you a morning person (salon.com)
• Artificial light causing drowsiness (stuff.co.nz)

Eat to Dream: Study Shows Dietary Nutrients Associated With Certain Sleep Patterns

From the 6 February 2013 article at Science Daily

You are what you eat,” the saying goes, but is what you eat playing a role in how much you sleep? Sleep, like nutrition and physical activity, is a critical determinant of health and well-being. With the increasing prevalence of obesity and its consequences, sleep researchers have begun to explore the factors that predispose individuals to weight gain and ultimately obesity. Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods — an indicator of an overall healthy diet — had the healthiest sleep patterns.

..

The authors found that total caloric intake varied across groups. Short sleepers consumed the most calories, followed by normal sleepers, followed by very short sleepers, followed by long sleepers. Food variety was highest in normal sleepers, and lowest in very short sleepers. Differences across groups were found for many types of nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

In a statistical analysis, the research team found that there were a number of dietary differences, but these were largely driven by a few key nutrients. They found that very short sleep was associated with less intake of tap water, lycopene (found in red- and orange-colored foods), and total carbohydrates, short sleep was associated with less vitamin C, tap water, selenium (found in nuts, meat and shellfish), and more lutein/zeaxanthin (found in green, leafy vegetables), and long sleep was associated with less intake of theobromine (found in chocolate and tea), dodecanoic acid (a saturated fat) choline (found in eggs and fatty meats), total carbohydrates, and more alcohol.

“Overall, people who sleep 7 — 8 hours each night differ in terms of their diet, compared to people who sleep less or more. We also found that short and long sleep are associated with lower food variety,” said Dr. Grandner. “What we still don’t know is if people altered their diets, would they be able to change their overall sleep pattern? This will be an important area to explore going forward as we know that short sleep duration is associated with weight gain and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Likewise, we know that people who sleep too long also experience negative health consequences. If we can pinpoint the ideal mix of nutrients and calories to promote healthy sleep, the healthcare community has the potential to make a major dent in obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors.”

 

Read the entire article here

 

Related articles

• Does your diet influence how well you sleep? (cnn.com)
• Does Your Diet Influence How Well You Sleep? (healthland.time.com)
• Diet Affects Sleep Patterns, Study Finds (huffingtonpost.com)
• A Totally Unexpected Perk to Healthy Eating (cosmopolitan.com)
• Want to Limit Overeating? Get More Sleep (psychologytoday.com)

 

2 ways to help your patients get better sleep

English: A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto: Taso de kafo. Français : Photo d’une tasse de caffé Español: Taza de café (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

By JULIA SCHLAM EDELMAN, MD , 5 January 2013 post at KevinMD.com

 

…

1. Avoid looking at back-lit screens for 60 minutes before bedtime. That means no television, iPad use, laptop use, checking the smartphone, or reading a back-lit e-reader before bed.  Reading a book made from trees is ideal, as is listening to music or having a relaxing conversation, if you remember that vanishing social custom.

2. Taper the amount of caffeine you consume. Even if you finish your coffee in the morning, you will benefit.  It takes six hours to clear half the amount of caffeine you consume.  With super-sized coffee cups, a large cup may contain more than 200 milligrams of caffeine.  Here is the math.  If you drink three large cups of coffee by 11am, you have consumed 600 milligrams of caffeine.  Six hours later, at 5pm, 300mg of caffeine remain in your body.  Six hours after that, at 11pm, 150mg remain.  At 5am the next morning, 75mg of caffeine remain from the previous morning.  This compromises your ability to fall asleep readily, and makes your mind race.  It also prevents deep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.  If your patient offers to stop “cold turkey,” don’t let her.  A slow taper prevents caffeine-withdrawal headaches.

…

 

Read the entire article here

 

 

 

Related articles

• Use Science To Get Better Sleep (And Need Less) (lifehacker.com.au)
• Rest For The Weary: 5 Great Travel-Centric Ways To Celebrate National Sleep Day (gadling.com)

 

Sleeping Brain Behaves as If It’s Remembering Something

 

English: Entorhinal cortex (red) was thinnest in youth with Alzheimer’s-related ApoE4 gene variant. View of left entorhinal cortex from beneath the brain, with front of brain at top. Artist’s rendering. Source: Philip Shaw, M.D., NIMH Child Psychiatry Branch http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2007/cortex-area-thinner-in-youth-with-alzheimers-related-gene.shtml (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the 7 October 2012 article at Science Daily

 

UCLA researchers have for the first time measured the activity of a brain region known to be involved in learning, memory and Alzheimer’s disease during sleep. They discovered that this part of the brain behaves as if it’s remembering something, even under anesthesia, a finding that counters conventional theories about memory consolidation during sleep.

Mehta and his team looked at three connected brain regions in mice — the new brain or the neocortex, the old brain or the hippocampus, and the entorhinal cortex, an intermediate brain that connects the new and the old brains. While previous studies have suggested that the dialogue between the old and the new brain during sleep was critical for memory formation, researchers had not investigated the contribution of the entorhinal cortex to this conversation, which turned out to be a game changer, Mehta said. His team found that the entorhinal cortex showed what is called persistent activity, which is thought to mediate working memory during waking life, for example when people pay close attention to remember things temporarily, such as recalling a phone number or following directions.

“The big surprise here is that this kind of persistent activity is happening during sleep, pretty much all the time.” Mehta said. “These results are entirely novel and surprising. In fact, this working memory-like persistent activity occurred in the entorhinal cortex even under anesthesia.”

The study appears Oct. 7, 2012 in the early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The findings are important, Mehta said, because humans spend one-third of their lives sleeping and a lack of sleep results in adverse effects on health, including learning and memory problems.

It had been shown previously that the neocortex and the hippocampus “talk” to each other during sleep, and it is believed that this conversation plays a critical role in establishing memories, or memory consolidation. However, no one was able to interpret the conversation…..

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• While Asleep, Brain Acts Like It’s Remembering (theepochtimes.com)
• Researchers Discover that the Sleeping Brain Behaves as if it’s Remembering Something (neurosciencenews.com)
• Sleeping Brain Behaves as If It’s Remembering Something (engineeringevil.com)
• Sleeping brain behaves as if it’s remembering something (earthsky.org)
• Sleeping brain behaves as if it’s `remembering` something (indiavision.com)
• Can Sleep Help You Organize Your Memories? (medicaldaily.com)
• UCLA researchers discover that the sleeping brain behaves as if it’s remembering something (eurekalert.org)

 

Another reason to get your Z’s- prevent a nursing home admission

 

English: Banks o’Dee Nursing Home Modern Care Home for the elderly in Abbotswell Road, Aberdeen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the 19th July 2012 article at ScienceNewsDaily

 

Tired? Scientists have discovered another possible benefit of a night of restful and uninterrupted sleep. According to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health fragmented or interrupted sleep could predict future placement in a nursing home or assisted living facility. The study is featured in the July 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and outlines the association between objectively measured sleep and subsequent institutionalization among older women.

“Sleep disturbances are common in older people,” said Adam Spira, PhD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Mental Health. “Our results show that in community-dwelling older women, more fragmented sleep is associated with a greater risk of being placed in a nursing home or in a personal care home. We found that, compared to women with the least fragmented sleep, those who spent the most time awake after first falling asleep had about 3 times the odds of placement in a nursing home. Individuals with the lowest sleep efficiency — those who spent the smallest proportion of their time in bed actually sleeping — also had about 3 times the odds of nursing home placement.” The authors found similar patterns of associations between disturbed sleep and placement in personal care homes, such as assisted-living facilities. Sleep duration per se did not predict placement in either of these settings…

 

 

Is napping good for you? – Ask Doctor K, Harvard Medical School

Is napping good for you? – Ask Doctor K, Harvard Medical School.

Excerpts from the article

 

POSTED NOVEMBER 24, 2011, 5:00 AM

DEAR DOCTOR K:

As I’ve gotten older I don’t sleep as well as I used to. I’m retired, so I have the time to take an afternoon nap. But I’m worried that if I sleep during the day, I’ll have even more trouble sleeping at night. What do you think?

DEAR READER:

I’m not surprised that you don’t sleep as well as you used to. Our sleep changes as we get older.

After about age 60, we have less deep sleep. We awaken more often and sleep an average of two hours less at night than we did as young adults.

It was once thought that older people didn’t need as much sleep as younger ones. But that’s not the case; we need it just as much. We just have a harder time getting it.

Regardless of age, we typically need seven and a half to eight hours of sleep to function at our best. So if you’re not getting enough sleep at night, what about daytime naps? Or, as you asked, does napping disrupt the sleep cycle? Will napping ultimately lead to less sleep and more daytime drowsiness?

Everybody’s different, and napping is both good and bad, depending on who you are. If you have trouble sleeping nearly every night, and as a result feel tired during the day, napping in the evening is a bad idea. Evening naps make it harder to fall asleep at bedtime. Long naps at any time of day often make you sleep less soundly that night.

On the other hand, suppose you have an occasional bad night’s sleep….

 

 

Read the entire article

 

 

Related articles

• The Secret and Surprising Power of Naps (webmd.com)
• Do power naps work? (zocdoc.com)
• Mastering the Art of Sleep (enfamil.com)
• 18 and Under: A Child’s Nap Is More Complicated Than It Looks (nytimes.com)

Sleep makes your memories stronger

From a November 12, 2010 Eureka news release

As humans, we spend about a third of our lives asleep. So there must be a point to it, right? Scientists have found that sleep helps consolidate memories, fixing them in the brain so we can retrieve them later. Now, new research is showing that sleep also seems to reorganize memories, picking out the emotional details and reconfiguring the memories to help you produce new and creative ideas, according to the authors of an article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“Sleep is making memories stronger,” says Jessica D. Payne of the University of Notre Dame, who cowrote the review with Elizabeth A. Kensinger of Boston College. “It also seems to be doing something which I think is so much more interesting, and that is reorganizing and restructuring memories.”

Payne and Kensinger study what happens to memories during sleep, and they have found that a person tends to hang on to the most emotional part of a memory. For example, if someone is shown a scene with an emotional object, such as a wrecked car, in the foreground, they’re more likely to remember the emotional object than, say, the palm trees in the background—particularly if they’re tested after a night of sleep. They have also measured brain activity during sleep and found that regions of the brain involved with emotion and memory consolidation are active.

“In our fast-paced society, one of the first things to go is our sleep,” Payne says. “I think that’s based on a profound misunderstanding that the sleeping brain isn’t doing anything.” The brain is busy. It’s not just consolidating memories, it’s organizing them and picking out the most salient information. She thinks this is what makes it possible for people to come up with creative, new ideas.

Payne has taken the research to heart. “I give myself an eight-hour sleep opportunity every night. I never used to do that—until I started seeing my data,” she says. People who say they’ll sleep when they’re dead are sacrificing their ability to have good thoughts now, she says. “We can get away with less sleep, but it has a profound effect on our cognitive abilities.”

###
Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, publishes concise reviews on the latest advances in theory and research spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. For a copy of “Sleep’s Role in the Consolidation of Emotional Episodic Memories” *** and access to other Current Directions in Psychological Science research findings, please contact Keri Chiodo at 202-293-9300 or kchiodo@psychologicalscience.org.

*** Click here for possibilities of getting this article for free

Sleep makes your memories stronger

From a November 12, 2010 Eureka news release

s humans, we spend about a third of our lives asleep. So there must be a point to it, right? Scientists have found that sleep helps consolidate memories, fixing them in the brain so we can retrieve them later. Now, new research is showing that sleep also seems to reorganize memories, picking out the emotional details and reconfiguring the memories to help you produce new and creative ideas, according to the authors of an article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“Sleep is making memories stronger,” says Jessica D. Payne of the University of Notre Dame, who cowrote the review with Elizabeth A. Kensinger of Boston College. “It also seems to be doing something which I think is so much more interesting, and that is reorganizing and restructuring memories.”

Payne and Kensinger study what happens to memories during sleep, and they have found that a person tends to hang on to the most emotional part of a memory. For example, if someone is shown a scene with an emotional object, such as a wrecked car, in the foreground, they’re more likely to remember the emotional object than, say, the palm trees in the background—particularly if they’re tested after a night of sleep. They have also measured brain activity during sleep and found that regions of the brain involved with emotion and memory consolidation are active.

“In our fast-paced society, one of the first things to go is our sleep,” Payne says. “I think that’s based on a profound misunderstanding that the sleeping brain isn’t doing anything.” The brain is busy. It’s not just consolidating memories, it’s organizing them and picking out the most salient information. She thinks this is what makes it possible for people to come up with creative, new ideas.

Payne has taken the research to heart. “I give myself an eight-hour sleep opportunity every night. I never used to do that—until I started seeing my data,” she says. People who say they’ll sleep when they’re dead are sacrificing their ability to have good thoughts now, she says. “We can get away with less sleep, but it has a profound effect on our cognitive abilities.”

###
Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, publishes concise reviews on the latest advances in theory and research spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. For a copy of “Sleep’s Role in the Consolidation of Emotional Episodic Memories” and access to other Current Directions in Psychological Science research findings, please contact Keri Chiodo at 202-293-9300 or kchiodo@psychologicalscience.org.